How to Dress Punk – Tips and Advice

It may not be as common to dress punk anymore, but there is still plenty of great punk clothing out there to be worn. Dressing punk is all about going against the mainstream and rebelling against the normal order of things. To dress punk, there are a few basic elements to include in your outfits.

T-Shirts

T-shirts are a very punk item to wear. The most part, punk t-shirts are printed with punk band logos. These can be t-shirts from old concerts or they may be new t-shirts recently printed. The t-shirts should generally be black, white or a neon color. And if the t-shirt is torn up a little bit, that will contribute to the overall look.

Jackets

It’s hard to be punk without a leather jacket. Punk style often revolved around wearing a black leather jacket with metallic ornaments on it. These might be metal spikes that could be on the shoulder or sleeve of the jacket. You can also attach buttons that represent punk bands to the front of the jacket. If the jacket has a lot of snaps or zippers, those will work perfectly. If the jacket has no metal adornments, you can put dozens of safety pins on it to give it that metal jingle.

Boots

Some punks wear Converse All Star hi tops, but often, the punk look requires boots. Combat boots are the epitome of punk, and they are still made by several different companies. Dr. Martens makes great combat boots in punk style and in many different colors. While black combat boots are the classic punk look, red and white also work well for the look.

Women can also wear high heeled pumps as a part of their punk look if they don’t wish to wear combat boots. High heels can be very much punk if worn with fishnet stockings or with tight jeans that are rolled up at the bottom. The pumps themselves should be either black or in a bright neon color. If you can find wildly-patterned pumps, those will also work well.

Jeans

The best pants to wear when dressing punk are certainly jeans. Any type of jeans can be made to look punk, though dark blue and black jeans are generally the best types. But like everything else punk, you don’t want them to look too mainstream. That’s why slashing your jeans, cutting holes in them or even burning holes in them can make them look far more punk. Men generally wear black belts with silver studs on them that look like spikes.

Some girls wear jean shorts with torn up tights or shredded pantyhose under them as their primary punk statement. They may also wear very tight jeans with a t-shirt that is cinched with a studded belt. For women, the belt doesn’t have to be black with silver spikes. It can be a white belt with spikes or a black belt with rivets or safety pins on it. It can also be in a bright neon color with a wild pattern on it.

25 Comments

Anyone who needs to read this to work out what punk is shouldn’t be on the street in the first place. Even worse is that this gives the impression that punk is about nothing more than wearing the right clothes. OK, maybe that’s all it has become, but this advice is really only for people going to a “P” theme party.

I agree Carlos, there is a LOT more to punk than clothes. This is not about living, thinking, being punk, it is just information for those who want to dress punk for some type of dress up event or Halloween.

Punk is not about the clothes you wear. Punk is more of how you act and the type of punk music you listen to. There is Cyber punk/Punk Rock/Punk Pop, and many more i’m sure. Kids that listen to punk can wear what ever they please, and if they listen to punk music, then they are a punk rocker, or fit in that area of the social label

I also agree with Zakky that its not about the clothes but dressing according to your music preferences. There is a lot more to punk clothing, as it is different and in some ways also a more creative style of dressing. In the case of punk t-shirts you can also opt for custom printing with various designs and your favorite punk bands and artists.

umm..well first if your looking this up wouldnt you be trying to be something your not? honistly some one who listins to punk rock shouldnt have to dress punk it would be kind of like a uniform and isnt most punk music about rebeling and such (well the stuff i listion to is) then why dress punk to act apon it its like wearing a uniform to express whagt you stand for and most punk is stateing fuck the army fuck the gov basicly fuck most things in uniform and basicly being a hipocrit cause your wearing one. i love punk its my favorit thing the only thing i wear that is punk is convers (there cheap) skate shoes (i skate) tight jeans (confy) and i sow patches onto these jeans because i advertise my favorit bands also so band t,s i mean i look punk if you could say but what the hell i dont understand punk isnt a fasion it should be labled with a uniform, so fuck off dress how you want.

i know what punk stands for, my bf is one, he has explained. the only reason i’m on here reading this is to help make my punk costume for halloween more authentic. its something i’m not, so i’m going to try and achieve the look.

Yea punk is mainly about being your self and not giving a shit about all the other motherfuckers out there BUT I found this very handy, I get classified of a moxture of emo and punk and I find this quite handy for a different kind of style to wear

dude i fuckin hate how punk is classified, anyone whos reading this… dont follow it i dont even know how the fuck i came across this site… hehe im with everyone on this but matt… haha right on same same. peace out

screw all of you! this is about dressing punk, what if the sex pistols and the misfits and all the other ones i’m to fucking pissed to remember wore abercrombie and bitch clothing??? You’d listen to a guy in a powder blue sweater vest yell at society??? I just need to know what I can do to make myself look more punk, plain black gets boring after 3 or 4 years!

fuck u who r u to say how a punk is supposed to dress punk is a state of mind thing and a genre of music live the lifestyle and if u want to get a leather but if u want just where a hoody and convers dont let people choose ur style if ur punk u choose how u will show it there r no guidelines

Punk is dead.
Emo is dead.
Goth is dead.
Old Rock is dying.
Alternative is thriving.
Rap and hip-hop are dominating.
Prep is lingering.
Sex Pistols are faggots.
The Misfits are faggots.
Metallica is homo.
Old Rock is for little kids who think they are cool and try to be punk. Little bitches look on the internet on how to dress. The idiot above me needs to get his head straight, learn how to spell, and keep his mouth shut.

ok punk isnt dead only dressing like punk kinda is now its more like people want to dress punk because it makes them different and cool what faggs. its all about the music, well it is to me and i dont care that my friends think its dumb that i dont dress like my music and any way they dont even know what punk is!

okay if someone wants to dress punk they should be it bt if they just doing it fr the styl thats jus tacky it makes me mad how people jus wana dres it but dnt kno hw to b it an dnt even lik it dat jus makes me rely angry

adamn hernia SHUT UR FREKN FACE UR JUST JELOUCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! METALIKA IZ DA SHIZ WHERE IM FROM!!!!!!!!!! and being punk is more bein rebelouse and not caring what idiots like adamn think. style is only part of the equasion u can du wateva u want to,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, just dnt stay out of trobl, its no fun

Hey I think that if you want to go punk go for it. Ignore the bitchez who say punks dead. I’m in highschool and half my school is punk. But thats New York for ya. I strtd dressing punk my sophomore yr and shit I still am. Have you idiots not noticed everything old is coming back? And I agree with Ben. Dont give me that shit that u wud still listen to the sex pistols and others if they wore abercrombie or hollister like a bunch of fags. Their apperance mattered just as much as their music!